Binocular Rivalry
This series is an extension of my project “Binocular Rivalry” with photographs taken in Bhubandanga, located in Bolpur, West Bengal, India.
My graduate thesis Transience and Materiality: The Grand Trunk Road in Dadri evolved through the process of my research in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh beside the Grand Trunk Road, where the Shiv Nadar University campus is situated. I came across several stories of migration and witnessed spaces and lives in flux, a phenomenon that is amplified in small mufassil towns and villages such as Dadri and Chithera. The same road morphs into National Highway 19 as it traverses the Birbhum region in Bengal, and the town of Suri, where I live. For this project, I have collaborated with Subhadeep Mondal and the Society for Research Alternatives. We have together researched the impact of the road, also improved during British colonial rule, which further created the divisions and buffers between the urban and the rural. These have given rise to undefined areas in between that reflect the disorientation thus produced. My processes develop through temporalities and immersion within the worlds that this road and its passage across the subcontinent contain.
Click through the images for full size
Arindam Manna received his BFA in Painting from Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan, India, in 2018. Manna then completed his MFA at Shiv Nadar University, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 2020. After completing his postgraduate degree, Manna was given the opportunity to engage in online platforms such as the KHOJ Support Network and CONA Projects Bombay. This year, Manna was selected for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale/Students Biennale. He is also a part of the Society for Research Alternatives.